Rumors are currently circulating on the web that Joel Osteen, the famous televangelist and senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, has resigned from his post due to a "loss of faith" in Christianity. Large headline images announcing Osteen's resignation were recently featured on CNN, Drudge Report, and Yahoo! News. Oddly enough, reputable links to Osteen's supposed resignation statement do not currently exist online. Instead, the only evidence of Osteen's resignation can be found on a shady WordPress blog entitled Joel Osteen Ministries. Is the fact that Osteen ultimately "rejected the words of Jesus Christ and the Bible" really just an online HOAX? Read on for further details.

The only alleged "official" statement from Osteen exists on joelostenministries.com (note that Osteen's name is even misspelled in the web address). Part of the statement (posted earlier this month) reads - "I believe now that the Bible is a fallible, flawed, highly inconsistent history book that has been altered hundreds of times. There is zero evidence the Bible is the holy word of God." Osteen allegedly goes on to explain that his closest colleagues are aware he's leaving the church, which will continue in a "bare-bones fashion as we liquidate our assets and fulfill various financial obligations." A video is also included in the annoucement, along with this supposed link to the official CNN coverage of the breaking news story.

Not only does the website itself look fishy, but as the Inquisitrpoints out, Joel Osteen's OFFICIAL website reveals no indication that the 50-year-old pastor has any intention of actually resigning. The most recent article Osteen was featured in has him discussing the highly-controversial History Channel ministries series "The Bible." From the way Osteen talks, there's no sign that he's questioning his faith in the Church in any way.That CNN article was posted on March 29 - the same day Osteen's "resignation" was posted on the apparently bogus website.

What do Mstars readers think about Osteen's rumored resignation... is it indeed fake?